//------------------------------//
// Denial  
// Story: The Adventures of Pitch and Ruby 
// by Nirtha 
//------------------------------//

	“Where did you get this thing?” Pitch asked.
He was standing in his living with Ruby, wearing a black hooded cloak. Ruby was walking in a circle around him, admiring the cloak. She stopped in front of him and smiled. He just stared back, but she couldn’t see his shadowed face. 
“I’ve had it,” Ruby told him.
“Okay,” he said, not wanting to question why in Equestria his friend needed a hooded cloak. “And I’m wearing it why?”
“So that nopony can see that your cutie mark is gone,” Ruby explained. “Now we can go out and get you a new cutie mark!”
Pitch wondered if there was any point to the search. Nopony had ever lost their cutie mark before, as far as he was concerned. Ruby had even tried reading up on it, but found nothing on the matter. He wasn’t even sure he wanted a new one; he wanted his old one. Instead of lingering his thoughts on the depressing topic, he asked, “And why do I have to cover my face?”
Ruby shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want to have fun with this, you can take off the hood.”
Pitch tilted his head up and shook it until the hood fell away. He looked at Ruby, un-amused by her attempted humor. He had been cranky ever since she learned of his missing cutie mark. It pained her to know it was gone, and she did blame herself, but she didn’t show let Pitch see that. He had tried to hide the fact from her in an attempt to avoid hurting her but she didn’t want anymore secrets. 
“So, where to start?” Ruby asked. 
Pitch starred with a blank expression. “This was your idea. I don’t even know what we’re doing.”
“We’re getting you a new cutie mark.”
“I’m not a filly anymore,” Pitch said. “We can’t just go around in search of a cutie mark.”
Pitch turned around and made his way towards the stairs, but Ruby ran around him and blocked his path. 
“Come on!” Ruby nudged his shoulder. “You can’t just give up! You have to at least try!” 
“Fine,” Pitch said under his breath. He turned back around and went towards the door. Ruby trotted after him and used her magic to open the door. Pitch led the way until they reached the town hall. He stopped and asked, “So what are we doing exactly?”
“Finding you a new talent!,” Ruby said with a bit of a forced smile. “Starting with what we already know you’re good at.”
“I’m good at playing guitar,” Pitch said. “Can we go home now?”
“I just got you out of the house, and we haven’t even done anything,” Ruby said with a sigh. “Come on, what do you like doing? You’re good at skateboarding right?” Ruby’s face brightened up. “Let’s try that!”
Pitch waved his bad hoof in front of Ruby’s face. The scabbing was still pretty bad, but it had gotten thinner. Some scar tissue was now appearing along the edges. 
Ruby’s ears drooped to the side, but perked right back up again. She wasn’t going to give up. Pitch had been giving up enough for the two of them. “Your hoof hasn’t been stopping  you from flying!” 
“Okay, so what am I supposed to do now?” Pitch asked.
“Fly?” Ruby suggested. It had been a long time since she last went through the trouble of trying to earn a cutie mark. 
Pitch let his head fall with a swift movement. The situation felt hopeless. He knew it was a bad idea to tell Ruby about his cutie mark. She wasn’t going to let it go. With a sigh, Pitch looked up at her. She gave a half-hearted smile. Pitch rolled his eyes. “How do you expect me to fly in this thing?”
“Oh,” Ruby stared at him blankly, her smile vanished. “We could,” she thought for a moment, “go to the forest?”
Pitch sighed again. “But we just walked all the way over here.”
Ruby shrugged. “Come on.”
With that, she turned around and headed back for the forest. Pitch followed , but lagged behind. He wasn’t particularly excited. He didn’t have any high hopes. All he really wanted to do was go home and sleep. He wanted to just forget about everything that happened. Instead, he was being dragged out by Ruby, who was now determined to help him find a new cutie mark. It didn’t make sense to him. He wondered if she really believed they could do it, or if she was just trying to keep him hopeful. Either way, he didn’t think it would work. 
He wasn’t going to tell her that though. Pitch had always been the cheerful one of the two friends. He was usually the one trying to cheer her up. Now things were reversed. He was depressed, and she was doing her best to pick him back up.
Ruby stopped at the edge of the forest, waiting for Pitch to catch up. He walked right past her and left the cloak by the edge of a tree. Ruby shook her head and picked it up, swinging it onto her back. 
“Alright then,” Ruby said. “Fly.”
Without a word, Pitch kicked off the ground and took flight. He flew straight up until he was over the trees. He looked over the forest towards ponyville. Ruby was watching from below, but she could barely see him. Pitch spun around in the air, and dove down. Gaining speed, he dodged a couple branches, and just before he hit the ground he pulled up and flew straight ahead. Pitch was gaining so much speed that everything was a blur to him. He didn’t see the branch that he crashed into. It retracted and then flung him back. 
Ruby heard a distant thud and ran towards it. She found Pitch lying in a patch of long grass.
“Ooooowwwww,” he whined. 
“You’re fine,” Ruby said, walking closer to him.
“Do I really look fine to you?” Pitch asked in irritation.
“You don’t look bad, and you’re still talking quite a bit.”
Ruby smiled down at her friend, but Pitch didn’t seem amused. He rolled over to stand on his hooves, shaking the grass out of his coat as he stood. Ruby laughed a little at the annoyance on his face. She knew he wasn’t hurt, he was just annoyed. 
“I’m going home,” Pitch said.
“Why?” Ruby asked. 
Pitch stormed off in the direction of home. “Because I have dirt in my stitches, and I’m
tired.
“Wait!” Ruby ran over to him. He stopped and looked at her, looking as if he was trapped between anger and sadness. Ruby didn’t like the look on his face, but knew that he only wanted to be alone, so she just threw the cloak over him and said, “That’s all.”
“Thanks,” he mumbled as he turned away.
Ruby went home for awhile, wondering how she could help her friend. She racked her brain for ideas, but nothing was coming to her. She needed a break, so she began to write. She worked on her novel for a short while. She lost herself in her book, but slowly began to lose focus. Her thoughts wandered back to her friend. She was blaming herself again. She knew that Pitch didn’t want her too, but she couldn’t help it. She still felt that it was her own fault. 
Pitch was at home, sulking in his room. He wasn’t thinking of anything in particular. He was trying to push his thoughts away. After hours of failed meditation, he decided that he should do something. Since he didn’t want to leave the house, and couldn’t play his guitar, he fished under his bed for his ballad horn. 
No longer able to focus on her writing, Ruby left home. She wandered aimlessly for a while before she decided to go see how Pitch was doing. She knew he might get angry, but she didn’t plan on asking him to go in search of a cutie mark again. She just thought he needed a little bit of company and didn’t want to leave him alone with his thoughts for too long.
When Ruby reached his house, she knocked on the door. There was no response, not because he was ignoring her, but because he couldn’t hear her. Ruby, however, could hear him. He had left his window open, just a crack, and Ruby could hear a sad tune. The music was beautiful, but the mood of the melody had brought her own mood down. She was sure it was Pitch, but she had only heard him play an instrument like this once. 
When Pitch was a filly, he had visited Ponyville to see his cousins. His whole family seemed to have musical talent, but his grandfather was amazing. On occasion, it was Pitch’s grandfather that brought him out to ponyville. When his grandfather was in town, he would sit by town hall, and play his ballad horn. For a while, he attracted a loud crowd in ponyville. Pitch had dragged Ruby over to show off his grandfather’s skill on several occasions. 
When he finished, the whole crowd cheered. Pitch’s grandfather simply nodded and smiled. The crowd would disperse, and Pitch would greet his grandfather with a big hug. A couple years had passed, and ponies started to lose interest in the old pony with the ballad horn. Still, Pitch’s grandfather would sit by town hall and play his horn. He didn’t care whether he played for a crowd of ponies, or just the birds perched on his bench. Pitch, on the other hoof, was starting to seem annoyed. Ruby would ask him if he wanted to listen to his grandfather play, but Pitch would just shrug it off. He didn’t understand why his grandfather kept playing when nopony cared anymore. 
Ruby had known that his grandfather taught him to play, but around the time that everypony stopped paying attention to his grandfather, Pitch stopped playing. He later found interest in guitar. Ruby wondered if maybe Pitch had a change of heart. Maybe his interest in the ballad horn was returning. The way he played, sounded as if he had never stopped playing. She was no musical expert, but his music seemed flawless. 
She tried knocking on the door again, but Pitch still didn’t hear. Ruby found a pebble on the ground near her, and used her magic to lift it. The pebble rose in her dark red aura and tapped against the glass window. The music stopped.
Pitch slid the ballad horn back under his bed and went over to the window. He pushed it farther open with his muzzle and looked down at the Black Pony. He half sighed and half groaned in irritation. He was sure she was able to hear him play the ballad horn.
“What are you doing here?” Pitch asked.
“I got bored,” Ruby told him.
Pitch shut the window and flew down the stairs to his front door. He let Ruby in and asked, “Do you really need to keep showing up unannounced?”
“It never bothered you before,” Ruby pointed out.
Pitch was about to speak, but Ruby went on.
“I thought you didn’t like the ballad horn,” she said.
“I-I don’t!” Pitch told her. “I was just bored. What else am I supposed to do?”
“You know you’re really good at it,” Ruby said. “Maybe it could be your new-”
“No!” Pitch stopped her. “I don’t like it. I was just bored.”
“Don’t be so stubborn about it! You’re really good at it! Maybe even better than you were with guitar!” Ruby’s expression was stern. She felt as if she was talking to a filly. She knew he would enjoy it if he would just stop thinking about what other ponies thought. Ruby was also sure that Pitch would be great with a crowd, no matter what he played. Pitch wasn’t exactly like his grandfather; Pitch was much less predictable. Nopony ever knew what to expect from him. If Ruby could just get him to play in front of a few ponies, she was sure he’d gain interest again.
Pitch didn’t care if he was being stubborn. He didn’t think anypony cared for the ballad horn. If nopony cared, then what 	kind of talent would it be? He paced the living room. Ruby sighed and tried reasoning with him.
“Just try playing in front of a few ponies,” she told him. “I know you think nopony likes the ballad horn, but you play differently. You aren’t like everypony else. Maybe they will like your style.”
Pitch ignored her. 
“Pitch?”
“I don’t like the ballad horn, alright?”
There was a knock on the door. They both turned their heads over. 
“Check who it is,” Pitch demanded. 
“Why do I have to?” Ruby asked. “It’s your house!”
Pitch responded by pointing at his blank flank with his hoof.
Ruby shook her head, but obliged. She opened the door to see a familiar face of somepony who was still a stranger to her.
“Oh, uh,” Dusty Trailz was lost for words. He was obviously expecting Pitch. 
Dusty Trailz had got caught in the middle when her and Pitch had their last argument. He had seen that Pitch had lost his cutie mark, so Ruby didn’t bother telling Pitch who it was before letting the visitor in. Pitch was about to ask her what she was doing, but then realized who it was.
“Hey, Dusty Trailz,” he greeted his old friend. 
“Hey, uh,” Dusty Trailz was looking at Ruby. He seemed uncomfortable with her around. Ruby wondered if he was a little afraid of her after the outburst he saw. Dusty Trailz looked back at Pitch. “What’s up?” he asked.
Ruby answered for Pitch. “He was just playing his ballad horn.” 
“Was not!” Pitch snapped.
“He was.”
“She’s lying.”
Dusty Trailz looked back and forth between the two ponies as they bickered. “Um” was all he said throughout the argument. Ruby seemed almost amused at the quarrel, but Pitch’s frustration was increasingly evident. Finally, Dusty Trailz broke off the argument by saying, “I don’t care.”
The two stopped and looked at him for a moment. Dusty Trailz looked down at his hooves. Pitch then looked at Ruby and said, “See?” as if making some sort of point. Dusty Trailz didn’t understand, of course. He wasn’t there when Ruby was trying to convince Pitch that ponies would probably love to listen to him play. 
“So he doesn’t care that you like ballad horn.” Ruby shrugged. “You’re the only pony bothered by it. You overthink it. You can’t just let yourself enjoy it, because you’re overthinking it and acting like a stubborn filly.”
“Whatever,” Pitch said.
Dusty Trailz stared at them again, confused. “What difference does it make if you like ballad horn or not?” he asked.
“It doesn’t make a difference,” Pitch stated, “but it’s got nothing to do with my cutie mark!”
“I’m confused,” Dusty Trailz said flatly. 
“Pitch isn’t willing to stop acting like a stubborn filly. I’m just trying to help him get a new cutie mark.” 
“Is that even possible?” Dusty Trailz asked. 
“She doesn’t know,” Pitch said. “She’s just thinking crazy.”
“Um,” Dusty Trailz discomfort was rising. “I think I’m going home.”
Pitch felt slightly guilty for driving his friend away, but he was too frustrated to show it. He didn’t say anything as Dusty Trailz turned and left. Ruby sighed and shook her head.
“What?” Pitch asked angrily, as the door shut.
“Oh, nothing,” Ruby said. “I’m going to head home too though.”
“You were barely even here!” Pitch was now annoyed at her leaving. Ruby almost laughed at how unreasonable he seemed, but she didn’t. She didn’t want him any angrier.
“Sorry,” Ruby said. “I’ll try coming back tomorrow. See, I announced it.” 
“But-”
“See you tomorrow, Pitch!” Ruby was at the door. 
“Bye,” Pitch said. 
Ruby left Pitch alone, and galloped off. She could see Dusty Trailz heading towards the market. “Wait up,” she called after him.
The brown pony turned around. He didn’t say anything. He only looked at Ruby, with surprise and more discomfort.
“I need your help,” Ruby said. 
“Huh?” was all he managed.
“You’re going to help me get Pitch’s cutie mark back,” Ruby told him.
“I-uh,” Dusty Trailz cleared his throat. “I’m not sure that’s-”
“It wasn’t a question,” Ruby said, with a bright smile.
Dusty Trailz looked at her. Confusion, discomfort, and even a little anxiety were written all over his face. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to upset his friend. He didn’t want to get dragged into this strange mare’s scheming but for some reason, he just couldn’t say no to her.